The Winter Solstice is Tuesday, December 22.
The shortest day of the year, or the longest night, depending on your preference, brings hope of warmer days and the end of long winter nights. Spring is coming…
Learn more about the Winter Solstice.
Learn more about Yule.
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Newgrange in Ireland
Winter Solstice Temple
Newgrange (Irish: Sí an Bhrú) is a rebuilt
version of a prehistoric monument in County Meath, Ireland, located about
one kilometre north of the River
Boyne. It was built during the Neolithic period around 3000 BC to 2500 BC, making it older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids. The site consists of a large circular
mound with a stone passageway and interior chambers. The mound has a retaining
wall at the front and is ringed by engraved kerbstones. There is no agreement
about what the site was used for, but it has been speculated that it had
religious significance – it is aligned with the rising sun and its light floods
the chamber on the winter
solstice. It is the most famous monument within the Neolithic Brú na Bóinne complex, alongside the similar passage tomb mounds of Knowth and Dowth, and
as such is a part of the Brú na Bóinne UNESCO World Heritage Site. Newgrange also
shares many similarities with other Neolithic constructions in Western Europe,
such as Maeshowe in Orkney,
Scotland and the Bryn Celli Ddu in Wales.
After
its initial use, Newgrange was sealed for several millennia, although it
remained storied in Irish
mythology and folklore. Antiquarians first began its study in the 17th century,
and archaeological excavations took place at the site in
the years that followed. Archaeologist Michael
J. O'Kelly led the most extensive
of these and reconstructed the front of the site in the 1970s. Newgrange today
is a popular tourist site and, according to the archaeologist Colin Renfrew, is “unhesitatingly
regarded by the prehistorian as the great national monument of Ireland”
and as one of the most important megalithic structures in Europe.
Description is from Wikipedia, read more
Morning light casting into Newgrange on the Winter Solstice.
from Newgrange.com
Interior of Newgrange.
The light passes through the interior to illuminate a carved stone decorated with spirals.
Things were looking up for Earth about 12,800 years ago. The last Ice Age was coming to an end, mammoths and other large mammals romped around North America, and humans were beginning to settle down and cultivate wild plants. Then, suddenly, the planet plunged into a deep freeze, returning to near-glacial temperatures for more than a millennium before getting warm again.
The mammoths disappeared at about the same time, as did a major Native American culture that thrived on hunting them. A persistent band of researchers has blamed this apparent disaster on the impact of a comet or asteroid, but a new study concludes that the real explanation for the chill, at least, may lie strictly with Earth-bound events. Read more.
Tiwanaku and Pumapunku
Tiwanaku is a Pre-Columbian archaeological site in western Bolivia, South America. The site was first recorded in written history by Spanish conquistador Pedro Cieza de León. He came upon the remains of Tiwanaku in 1549 while searching for the Inca capital Qullasuyu.
The name by which Tiwanaku was known to its inhabitants may have been lost as they had no written language. The Puquina language has been pointed out as the most likely language of the ancient inhabitants of Tiwanaku.
The area around Tiwanaku may have been inhabited as early as 1500 BC as a small agricultural village. During the time period between 300 BC and AD 300, Tiwanaku is thought to have been a moral and cosmological center for the Tiwanaku empire to which many people made pilgrimages. Researchers believe it achieved this standing prior to expanding its powerful empire. In 1945, Arthur Posnansky estimated that Tiwanaku dated to 15,000 BC, based on his archaeoastronomical techniques. In the 21st century, experts concluded Posnansky’s dates were invalid.
The structures that have been excavated at Tiwanaku include the Akapana, Akapana East, and Pumapunku stepped platforms, the Kalasasaya, the Kheri Kala, and Putuni enclosures, and the Semi-Subterranean Temple.
The Akapana is an approximately cross-shaped pyramidal structure that is 257 m wide, 197 m broad at its maximum, and 16.5 m tall. At its center appears to have been a sunken court. This was nearly destroyed by a deep looters excavation that extends from the center of this structure to its eastern side. Material from the looters excavation was dumped off the eastern side of the Akapana. A staircase with sculptures is present on its western side. Possible residential complexes might have occupied both the northeast and southeast corners of this structure.
Twenty-first century studies have shown that the Akapana is a manmade earthen mound, faced with a mixture of large and small stone blocks. The dirt comprising Akapana appears to have been excavated from the “moat” that surrounds the site. The largest stone block within the Akapana, made of andesite, is estimated to weigh 65.70 metric tons. The structure was possibly for the shaman-puma relationship or transformation through shape shifting. Tenon puma and human heads stud the upper terraces.
The Pumapunku is a man-made platform built on an east-west axis like the Akapana. It is a rectangular terraced earthen mound faced with megalithic blocks. It is 167.36 m wide along its north-south axis and 116.7 m broad along its east-west axis, and is 5 m tall. Identical 20-meter wide projections extend 27.6 meters north and south from the northeast and southeast corners of the Pumapunku.
A prominent feature of the Pumapunku is a large stone terrace; it is 6.75 by 38.72 meters in dimension and paved with large stone blocks. It is called the “Plataforma Lítica”. The Plataforma Lítica contains the largest stone block found in the Tiwanaku Site. Ponce Sangines the block is estimated to weigh 131 metric tons. The second largest stone block found within the Pumapunku is estimated to be 85 metric tons.
Photo and description from Wikipedia
Read More
PLACES IN THE ANCIENT WORLD: Ur (Mesopotamia/Iraq)
UR was a city in the region of Sumer, southern Mesopotamia, in what is modern-day Iraq. According to biblical tradition, the city is named after the man who founded the first settlement there, Ur, though this has been disputed. The city’s other biblical link is to the patriarch Abraham who left Ur to settle in the land of Canaan. This claim has also been contested by scholars who believe that Abraham’s home was further north in Mesopotamia in a place called Ura, near the city of Harran, and that the writers of the biblical narrative in the Book of Genesis confused the two.
Whatever its biblical connections may have been, Ur was a significant port city on the Persian Gulf which began, most likely, as a small village in the Ubaid Period of Mesopotamian history (5000-4100 BCE) and was an established city by 3800 BCE continually inhabited until 450 BCE.
The site became famous in 1922 CE when Sir Leonard Wooley excavated the ruins and discovered what he called The Great Death Pit (an elaborate grave complex), the Royal Tombs, and, more significantly to him, claimed to have found evidence of the Flood described in the Book of Genesis (this claim was later discredited but continues to find supporters). In its time, Ur was a city of enormous size, scope, and opulence which drew its vast wealth from its position on the Persian Gulf and the trade this allowed with countries as far away as India.
Info by Joshua J. Mark on Ancient History Encyclopedia
The Ziggurat at UR
Was UR the first city?
Or just the first city after the rising water of the last ice age?
Photo from Wikipedia
Read more about UR in the link above or on Wikipedia
Cu Chulainn – The Hound of Ulster
Cú Chulainn, also spelled Cú Chulaind or Cúchulainn which means “Culann’s Hound" was an Irish mythological hero who appeared in the stories of the Ulster Cycle, as well as in Scottish and Manx folklore. He was believed to be an incarnation of the god Lugh, who was also his father. His mother was the mortal Deichtine.
Born Sétanta, he would become known as Cu Chulainn as a child after killing King Culann’s fierce guard-dog in self-defense. He offered to take the beasts place until a replacement could be reared. At the age of seventeen he solely defended Ulster against the armies of queen Medb of Connacht in the famous Táin Bó Cúailnge (“Cattle Raid of Cooley”). Prophecy foretold that he would live a life of great deeds and everlasting fame, but it would be a short life.
He was famous for his terrifying battle frenzy, or ríastrad, in which he became an unrecognizable monster who knew neither friend nor foe. One eye grew bigger while the other retreated into his skull. His hair stood on end, his muscles bulged, and his body rotated in his kin. His battle cry was said to drive men insane. He fought from his chariot, driven by his loyal charioteer Láeg and drawn by his horses, Liath Macha and Dub Sainglend. In more modern times, Cú Chulainn is often referred to as the “Hound of Ulster”.
The Death of Cu Chulainn
Maeve plotted to kill Cu Chulainn with six sorcerers including Lugaid, son of Cú Roí. Cu Chulainn’s fate was sealed by his breaking of the geasa (taboos). Cú Chulainn's geasa included a ban against eating dog meat, but in early Ireland there was a powerful taboo against refusing hospitality, so when an old crone offered him a meal of dog meat, he had no choice, and was spiritually weakened for the fight.
Lugaid had three magical spears made, and it was prophesied that a king would fall by each of them. With the first he killed Cú Chulainn’s charioteer Láeg, king of chariot drivers. With the second he kills Cú Chulainn’s horse, Liath Macha, king of horses. With the third he hits Cú Chulainn, mortally wounding him. Cú Chulainn ties himself to a standing stone to die on his feet, facing his enemies. This stone is traditionally identified as one still standing at Knockbridge. For three days no one would approach him, due to his ferocity even when so near death. It was only when the war goddess, Badb, in the form of a raven landed on his shoulder that his enemies believe he was dead. Lugaid approached to cut off his head, but as he tried a “hero-light” burned around Cú Chulainn and his sword fell from his hand, cutting off Lugaid’s hand. The light disappears only after his right hand, his sword arm, was cut from his body.
Cu Chulainn’s Death, Illustration by Stephen Reid in 1904
The Burren of Ireland and the Dolmen
The Burren (Irish: Boireann, meaning “great rock”) is a karst landscape in County Clare, Ireland. In southwest Ireland, the Burren National Park abounds with megalithic sites, the biggest being the Poulnabrone Dolmen, a distinctive ‘portal dolmen’ (burial tomb) with a huge capstone that has become a kind of logo of the area. It was built about 5,800 years ago, and when excavated contained the remains of 22 bodies, that were at least 1,500 years old.
A dolmen, also known as a cromlech, portal tomb, portal grave or quoit, is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone (“table”), although there are also more complex variants. Most date from the early Neolithic (4000-3000 BCE). Dolmens were typically covered with earth or smaller stones to form a tumulus. In many instances, that covering has weathered away, leaving only the stone “skeleton” of the burial mound intact.
It remains unclear when, why, and by whom the earliest dolmens were made. The oldest known dolmens are in Western Europe, where they were set in place around 7000 years ago. Archaeologists still do not know who erected these dolmens, which makes it difficult to know why they did it. They are generally all regarded as tombs or burial chambers, despite the absence of clear evidence for this. Human remains, sometimes accompanied by artifacts, have been found in or close to the dolmens which could be scientifically dated using Radiocarbon dating. However, it has been impossible to prove that these remains date from the time when the stones were originally set in place.
Dolmens exist across the world, the largest collection can
be found in Korea.
On a mystical and mysterious note – they were once believed to be used by
wizards, fae, and other magical creatures to travel through portals from one
Dolmen to another.
Karst topography is a landscape formed from the
dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum.
It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes, dolines,
and caves.
Descriptions taken from Wikipedia:
The Burren - Dolmen
